I went to the Australian War Memorial today for the 101st anniversary of the WWI Armistice. In his speech the Governor General referred to the 1912 Olympics. In one of the swimming events, the USA team did not appear and one of the Australian swimmers named Healy refused to compete without the USA team although he was likely to win the event. In the event, the Olympic officials rescheduled the event and Duke Kahanamoku from the USA won. He subsequently introduced surfing to Australia. Healy joined the Australian Imperial forces and was killed in France in 1916. This emphasised the loss of truly remarkable people in the war.
The minute's silence, immediately following the speech, was very impressive, the only sound, just discernable, being the metal clips on the flags at half mast striking the steel flagpoles. I had in my hand the Victory Medal from my uncle, who had contracted Rhumatic Fever in the trenches in France and had been on a full pension from that time.
To get back on topic, locomotives were still being built during WWI.
Here is one from September 1914...
Peter
From Mike:
Here's another member of the US 1912 Olympic Team, who got a bit of fame out of it, although not as much fame as he'd get later!
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/27290410/george_s_patton_jr_gains_attention_by/
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